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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 162, NO. 6 | www.dailytrojan.com
WEDNESDAY, SEPTE MBER 5, 2007
By ALEXANDER COMISAR and
DAN LOETERMAN
Daily Trojan
USC and the developers of the
University Gateway housing com-plex
have filed a lawsuit against Con-quest
Student Housing, alleging that
the company illegally monopolizes
the North University Park housing
market through “abusive litigation,
extortion, fraud and intimidation.”
The 62-page lawsuit was filed Tues-day
in federal district court in Cali-fornia
by USC and Urban Partners,
LLC, the primary developer of the
1,600-bed mixed-use project planned
for the corner of Jefferson Boulevard
and Figueroa Street. The suit charges
that Conquest has intentionally pre-vented
the construction of the Gate-way
project, threatened litigation
against competitors looking to build
in the USC area and tried to prevent
USC from building additional hous-ing
of its own.
Though USC administrators have
long expressed frustration with the
business tactics used by Conquest,
which owns 19 buildings near cam-pus,
this is the first time the univer-sity
has taken legal action against the
housing company.
“The key to this is that Conquest
has campaigned for the last two years
to monopolize student housing
around USC,” said Vice President for
Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson.
Though Conquest has been the
most vocal opposition to the Gate-way
project, the company is not
alone.
However, “when you have an en-tity
like Conquest who is trying to
block our initiatives, they need to be
confronted,” Jackson said.
Conquest attorney Jack Rubens
said university lawyers had not in-formed
him of any lawsuit as of
Tuesday afternoon, and he declined
The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges Conquest Student
Housing illegally blocked USC-supported Gateway project.
USC, Urban Partners sue Conquest
| see suit, page 13 |
Leigh Cooper | Daily Trojan
Green Greeks | Riley John Gibbs, Theta Chi president, shows off the renovations being made to the Portland Street house.
The environmentally friendly changes, such as more efficient light bulbs and solar panels, will be finished later this month.
Theta Chi goes green with Row renovations
By JULIA WONG
Daily Trojan
Green may become the new cardinal and
gold on The Row as Theta Chi opens USC’s
first environmentally friendly fraternity
house.
The chapter’s newly renovated Portland
Street residence is scheduled to reopen mid-
September. It will house 14 members and
showcase the first of three green-friendly
renovations planned for the site.
They include new flooring in the form of
vinyl composition tiles, which are made out
of recycled content and use a low-emission
adhesive, said Thom Cook, regional direc-tor
of the Theta Chi fraternity for Southern
California and Arizona. The house will also
use compact fluorescent light bulbs in place
of traditional incandescent light bulbs.
Cook said the house design also incorpo-rates
solar panels, a green landfill and a re-cycling
program.
“It was tough at first to pitch the green-friendly
idea,” Cook said. “But when the
alumni board saw how the operating costs
of the house would be lower due to green
incentives from the city and state, they
jumped on board.”
Cook said Theta Chi is the first Greek
chapter in Southern California to take on
an eco-friendly endeavor.
“We want to be a leader for other frater-nities
to follow, and we hope other houses
on The Row will follow suit,” Cook said.
Theta Chi just recently returned to its
chapter house, which had been leased to
Zeta Beta Tau for the past 14 years. Though
its initial plan was to renovate the house
this past summer, the early departure of
ZBT allowed Theta Chi to move into the
house earlier than members expected.
“Since it was a fraternity house, there
was a lot of wear and tear,” said Riley John
Gibbs, president of Theta Chi and a senior
majoring in mathematics. “Things were
mostly functional, but the electrical grid
wasn’t up to par and the flooring was mis-matched.”
Gibbs said he and his fraternity brothers
are excited to have a fully functional house.
“Communication will be easier now that
we have a house. Instead of having to send
out e-mails, I can just knock on doors,”
Gibbs said.
One Theta Chi member said he thinks
the new, green attributes will benefit mem-bers
and the fraternity as a whole.
“I am excited about having a renovated
house. The green stuff is a bonus; it is more
economically and environmentally friend-ly,”
said Daniel Katz, a sophomore major-ing
in electrical engineering who has been in
Fourteen members plan to move
into house once eco-makeover is
complete in mid-September.
| see house, page 2 |
By HANAH KIM
Daily Trojan
After a week of rush events on and off campus,
Interfraternity Council’s 18 chapters offered member-ship
to 103 more rushees than last fall.
Prospective fraternity members found out which
houses offered them bids, or invitations to join the
pledging process, on Friday night. The 18 IFC chap-ters
gave out a collective 411 bids to prospective mem-bers
this year.
According to IFC, this 33.4 percent increase is the
highest percentage increase in one year, and the 411
bids are also the highest total of a single rush.
During the recruitment process, which has been
alcohol-free since spring 2005, fraternities host bar-becues,
open houses and trips to off-campus venues
like Dodger Stadium, Hooters and shooting ranges
to give prospective members a taste of what Greek
life is like.
“Rushing dry was a better way to get to know
people on a higher level than if there was alcohol in-volved,”
said Douglas Brown, who rushed and is a
freshman majoring in international relations global
business.
Overall rush numbers increased more than
30 percent from last year, IFC officials say.
IFC reports
increase in bids
for fall frat rush
| see RUSH, page 12 |
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE UNHALLOWED GROUND »
The women’s soccer team’s scoring
problems from a year ago vanished
during its first two games of the season
this past weekend
Rob Zombie’s contrived, gory remake of
‘Halloween’ disgraces the source material, writes
film critic John Wheeler
Sports, page 20 Lifestyle, page 8
Food and wine critic Jeremy
Beecher explains why cool decor
and inventive cuisine make Blue
Velvet worth a visit.
INTO THE BLUE
Lifestyle, page 7
UNLAWFUL PANTS
Recent law banning baggy
pants is a result of bored
politicians, writes columnist
Laura Reeve.
Opinion, page 4

Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 162, NO. 6 | www.dailytrojan.com
WEDNESDAY, SEPTE MBER 5, 2007
By ALEXANDER COMISAR and
DAN LOETERMAN
Daily Trojan
USC and the developers of the
University Gateway housing com-plex
have filed a lawsuit against Con-quest
Student Housing, alleging that
the company illegally monopolizes
the North University Park housing
market through “abusive litigation,
extortion, fraud and intimidation.”
The 62-page lawsuit was filed Tues-day
in federal district court in Cali-fornia
by USC and Urban Partners,
LLC, the primary developer of the
1,600-bed mixed-use project planned
for the corner of Jefferson Boulevard
and Figueroa Street. The suit charges
that Conquest has intentionally pre-vented
the construction of the Gate-way
project, threatened litigation
against competitors looking to build
in the USC area and tried to prevent
USC from building additional hous-ing
of its own.
Though USC administrators have
long expressed frustration with the
business tactics used by Conquest,
which owns 19 buildings near cam-pus,
this is the first time the univer-sity
has taken legal action against the
housing company.
“The key to this is that Conquest
has campaigned for the last two years
to monopolize student housing
around USC,” said Vice President for
Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson.
Though Conquest has been the
most vocal opposition to the Gate-way
project, the company is not
alone.
However, “when you have an en-tity
like Conquest who is trying to
block our initiatives, they need to be
confronted,” Jackson said.
Conquest attorney Jack Rubens
said university lawyers had not in-formed
him of any lawsuit as of
Tuesday afternoon, and he declined
The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges Conquest Student
Housing illegally blocked USC-supported Gateway project.
USC, Urban Partners sue Conquest
| see suit, page 13 |
Leigh Cooper | Daily Trojan
Green Greeks | Riley John Gibbs, Theta Chi president, shows off the renovations being made to the Portland Street house.
The environmentally friendly changes, such as more efficient light bulbs and solar panels, will be finished later this month.
Theta Chi goes green with Row renovations
By JULIA WONG
Daily Trojan
Green may become the new cardinal and
gold on The Row as Theta Chi opens USC’s
first environmentally friendly fraternity
house.
The chapter’s newly renovated Portland
Street residence is scheduled to reopen mid-
September. It will house 14 members and
showcase the first of three green-friendly
renovations planned for the site.
They include new flooring in the form of
vinyl composition tiles, which are made out
of recycled content and use a low-emission
adhesive, said Thom Cook, regional direc-tor
of the Theta Chi fraternity for Southern
California and Arizona. The house will also
use compact fluorescent light bulbs in place
of traditional incandescent light bulbs.
Cook said the house design also incorpo-rates
solar panels, a green landfill and a re-cycling
program.
“It was tough at first to pitch the green-friendly
idea,” Cook said. “But when the
alumni board saw how the operating costs
of the house would be lower due to green
incentives from the city and state, they
jumped on board.”
Cook said Theta Chi is the first Greek
chapter in Southern California to take on
an eco-friendly endeavor.
“We want to be a leader for other frater-nities
to follow, and we hope other houses
on The Row will follow suit,” Cook said.
Theta Chi just recently returned to its
chapter house, which had been leased to
Zeta Beta Tau for the past 14 years. Though
its initial plan was to renovate the house
this past summer, the early departure of
ZBT allowed Theta Chi to move into the
house earlier than members expected.
“Since it was a fraternity house, there
was a lot of wear and tear,” said Riley John
Gibbs, president of Theta Chi and a senior
majoring in mathematics. “Things were
mostly functional, but the electrical grid
wasn’t up to par and the flooring was mis-matched.”
Gibbs said he and his fraternity brothers
are excited to have a fully functional house.
“Communication will be easier now that
we have a house. Instead of having to send
out e-mails, I can just knock on doors,”
Gibbs said.
One Theta Chi member said he thinks
the new, green attributes will benefit mem-bers
and the fraternity as a whole.
“I am excited about having a renovated
house. The green stuff is a bonus; it is more
economically and environmentally friend-ly,”
said Daniel Katz, a sophomore major-ing
in electrical engineering who has been in
Fourteen members plan to move
into house once eco-makeover is
complete in mid-September.
| see house, page 2 |
By HANAH KIM
Daily Trojan
After a week of rush events on and off campus,
Interfraternity Council’s 18 chapters offered member-ship
to 103 more rushees than last fall.
Prospective fraternity members found out which
houses offered them bids, or invitations to join the
pledging process, on Friday night. The 18 IFC chap-ters
gave out a collective 411 bids to prospective mem-bers
this year.
According to IFC, this 33.4 percent increase is the
highest percentage increase in one year, and the 411
bids are also the highest total of a single rush.
During the recruitment process, which has been
alcohol-free since spring 2005, fraternities host bar-becues,
open houses and trips to off-campus venues
like Dodger Stadium, Hooters and shooting ranges
to give prospective members a taste of what Greek
life is like.
“Rushing dry was a better way to get to know
people on a higher level than if there was alcohol in-volved,”
said Douglas Brown, who rushed and is a
freshman majoring in international relations global
business.
Overall rush numbers increased more than
30 percent from last year, IFC officials say.
IFC reports
increase in bids
for fall frat rush
| see RUSH, page 12 |
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE UNHALLOWED GROUND »
The women’s soccer team’s scoring
problems from a year ago vanished
during its first two games of the season
this past weekend
Rob Zombie’s contrived, gory remake of
‘Halloween’ disgraces the source material, writes
film critic John Wheeler
Sports, page 20 Lifestyle, page 8
Food and wine critic Jeremy
Beecher explains why cool decor
and inventive cuisine make Blue
Velvet worth a visit.
INTO THE BLUE
Lifestyle, page 7
UNLAWFUL PANTS
Recent law banning baggy
pants is a result of bored
politicians, writes columnist
Laura Reeve.
Opinion, page 4